Police have imposed three times as many fines for traffic rules violations with electric scooters

Accidents with electric scooters are on the rise, their drivers are blatantly violating traffic rules, so the control by the law enforcement authorities is increased.

Police have imposed three times as many fines for violations with electric scooters compared to previous years, Chief Inspector Lachezar Bliznakov from the "Traffic Police" told BNT on October 4.

"E-scooter related accidents are frequent and statistics show that there has been an increase in these accidents, as well as an increase in the number of those injured and killed in them. We do not underestimate these facts and based on the analyses, we have long been aware of this trend. That is why the control is aimed at the drivers of these vehicles. The statistics on the administrative and penal activity with regard to the drivers of e-scooters clearly show that control has increased considerably, with 831 fines and more than 3 200 penalty tickets for traffic rules violations having been issued since the beginning of the year. While for the same period last year there were 273 fines and 890 tickets," explained Chief Inspector Bliznakov.

According to him, the violations by e-scooter drivers are many.

"Scooter drivers often ignore traffic rules. The most common violations are riding improperly on the roadway, carrying a passenger on the individual vehicle, which is prohibited. The electric scooters should not be underestimated, because anyone who has a rudimentary feeling of the behaviour of a vehicle and has ridden on one knows that it poses a lot of risks. Scooters are not stable, behave unpredictably on the road, they should not be underestimated in any case," he stressed.

The problem is widespread across the country and therefore some municipalities have introduced additional restrictions on the use of electric scooters.

In Varna, a campaign has been launched to educate students about the basic rules for riding scooters, as accidents involving young riders are on the rise, despite preventive measures by municipality and police actions.

Many students from the National Technical High School use scooters to get around. The school established a preventive movement club.

"I would show my classmates not only the safe but also the risky tricks - riding without a helmet, on the back tire, at high speed," said Kalin Radev.

“Safety comes first and the laws apply to everyone. Through the training by the Ministry of Interior and the city's prevention club we found out that a lot of scooter and bicycle drivers drive extremely recklessly, through the simulation we will do today we will show them how to behave safely on the road," Tsvetelin Stoychev emphasized.

Damian, another student, urged riders to be more mindful of their surroundings and to respect speed limits and other road users.